A Brief History On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal in Egypt was inaugurated, providing passage to and from the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Just over 120 miles long, the canal can accommodate ships up to 254 feet wide. (Note: The author has passed through the Suez Canal four times.) Considered an incredible engineering feat at the time, we ask you what engineering marvel is the greatest? Digging Deeper Some suggestions to choose from include The Great Pyramid at Giza (2570 BC), which was built without any power equipment. The Panama Canal (1914) is 51 miles long but…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On November 16, 1857, during the battle known as the Second Relief of Lucknow, British soldiers earned 24 Victoria Cross medals in a single day, the most in British history. Digging Deeper Lucknow, the capital of the Oudh, now called Awadh, province of India, housed a British settlement. The area was administered by the British East India Company, a situation distasteful to the local Indians. The 1857 Indian Rebellion, May 1857 to November 1858, saw rebellion against the East India Company. Lucknow, defended by 1,729 troops, was beset by 5,000 Sepoys, Indian soldiers that had been working…
A Brief History On November 15, 1968, the Cleveland Transit System of Cleveland, Ohio linked downtown with the metro airport, becoming the first city in the western hemisphere to link its downtown and its main airport by rapid transit. Digging Deeper CTS ran the buses and the Rapid Transit electric trains in Cleveland, linking the East and West sides of the city and its inner suburbs with the downtown area. Later, CTS would become the Regional Transit Authority. Despite jokes about its burning river and the “Mistake on the Lake,” and of course the recent history of alleged pro football, Cleveland…
A Brief History On November 14, 1910, self-taught aviator Eugene Ely took off from the deck of the USS Birmingham, near Norfolk, Virginia. Piloting a Curtiss Pusher airplane, Ely made history by becoming the first person to take off from a ship in an airplane. Digging Deeper The temporary runway constructed over the front portion of the cruiser was only 83 feet long, barely long enough to allow the plane to take off. In fact, on the historic flight, the wheels of the primitive plane dragged in the water and Ely’s goggles were covered with spray! After the brush with…
A Brief History On November 13, 1922, the United States Supreme Court decision called Zucht v. King, upheld the discretion that allowed a Texas school board to require mandatory vaccination of school children against smallpox. Digging Deeper The court cited a previous decision, Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905), that allowed states to force vaccination and claimed that the “police power” of the state to maintain “health and safety” of the public justified such measures. Today, smallpox is virtually eradicated, but other old diseases keep cropping up as do new germs and viruses. As we found out in 2020, mankind is always…